of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



293 



XII. -ON THE GROWTH AND AGE OF THE HEERING 

 (CLUPEA HARENGUS). By Dr. T. Wemyss Fulton, F.R.S.E., 

 Superintendent of Scientific Investigations. 



(Plates XVII-XIX.) 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



1. Previous Opinions and Observations, ... ... ... 293 



(a) English Authors, ... ... ... ... 293 



(6) Scandinavian and Dutch, ... ... ... 294 



(c) Meyer and Jenkins, ... ... ... ... 295 



{d) Masterman and Cunningham, ... ... ... 298 



2. The Size of the Herring when it first attains Maturity, .. 299 



3. The Maximum Size attained by the Herring, ... ... 301 



4. The Spawning-Periods of the Herring, ... ... 302 



5. The Duration of Embryonic Development : Relation to 



Temperature, ... ... ... ... ... 303 



6. A Criticism of Meyer's Conclusions and Observations, ... 304 



7. The Scottish Collections, ... ... ... ... 307 



(a) Larval and Post-larval Stages, ... ... ... 308 



(b) The Annual Groups, ... ... ... 323 



8. Conclusions, ... ... ... ... ... 334 



9. Literature, ... ... ... ... ... 338 



10. Description of Plates, ... ... ... ... 338 



1. — Previous Opinions and Observations. 



The investigation of the rate at which the herring grows is more 

 difficult than similar investigations with other fishes. The fact that 

 herrings spawn twice in the year, and that spawning may take place, 

 more or less, over many or most of the months of the twelve, offers one 

 difficulty, and a great one, since the post-larval and young stages derived 

 from one spawning cannot readily be distinguished from those derived 

 from the other, though metamorphosis may occur at a different length. 

 The conditions are complicated by the circumstance that the early stages 

 of the sprat, which spawns in early summer, can hardly be separated with 

 any certainty from the corresponding stages of the herring. 



Many writers have expressed their opinion as to the rate of growth of 

 this fish and the size and age it attains when it first becomes mature and 

 reproduces ; and authors are by no means in agreement on these points. 

 It is probable that the divergence of view is in part explained by the 

 herrings of widely-separated localities growing at a different rate, and 

 coming to maturity at a different size ; partly from the very smallest and 

 exceptionally mature individuals having been fixed upon ; many of the 

 opinions, moreover, are based upon general considerations rather than 

 on definite evidence. 



(a) English Authors. 



Huxley, in the report of a Commission on the Scottish herring fishery 

 (1. p. 27) stated that it was difficult to obtain satisfactory evidence on 

 the point, some fishermen believing that the herring took three years 

 and others that it took seven years to reach maturity. His own view was 



